Nownes (2000) surveyed representatives of interest groups who were registered as lobbyists of three U.S. state legislatures. One of the issues he studied was whether interest groups are in competition with each other. Table 1–10 shows the results for one such question.
(a) Using this table as an example, explain the idea of a frequency table to a person who has never had a course in statistics.
(b) Explain the general meaning of the pattern of results.

TABLE 1–10 Competition for Members and Other Resources
Question: How much competition does this group
face from other groups with similar goals for
members and other resources?
Answer Percentage Number
No competition 20 118
Some competition 58 342
A lot of competition 22 131
Total 100 591